Last Letter to Carl Griese

(about his journeys around the world, etc.;
Carl Griese was a publisher of some of his early books)

Karlsruhe, SÃ¼dendstr. 6, June 7th, 1915

Dear Carl !

When will you visit me ? During the summer holidays ? I am not
ready with my travel documents, since I've spent so much time "down
under" side of the earth I have lost my German Reich citizenship. A while
ago they cancelled that silly law and I think now I can acquire nationality
of Baden. In all the countries I visited you never required papers or a
passport. You are always called by your Christian name, so I am "Willy", or you get a title,
as in New Zealand, where I was known as Professor Andresen. As I've been out of military duty for
almost 13 years, I didn't see the necessity for proper papers; often
there were no German representatives or just Danish or English merchants.

If the World War hadn't begun, it would not have been necessary, but
instead I was forced to stay in Basel when I had intended to go to Paris to do portraits of
some minor barons and baronesses, which I had also done before, and then do some
work in Den Haag, Amsterdam and London. But the war put an end to all of this, and I was
even unable to travel from Switzerland to Germany without documents until the
German Consul made a temporary arrangement and his wife asked me for a small
Bismarck painting for an art bazaar in Basel to support the wives and children of
German soldiers.

At the moment I'm working on a large Bismarck painting, in colour of course,
because it will be somewhat different to the "Union" (Publishing House) drawings. For my English
spectators and their well known taste I had developed a very special method of
executing portraits and I have received immense approval. Some kind of coloured drawing
(watercolour). The Englishmen like water colours and not too large pictures and
moderate prices. So I frequently did portraits of children in actual size, but only heads
with less distinct shoulders, and with colour and my patent method the results
were very tender artistic pieces, much prettier than pastels and more handy, as
my paintings were fixed and durable.

With my huge experience in drawing I always finished within
three short sessions, each up to 1 - 1Â¼ hours, and I delivered the paintings at
a price of around 150 Marks,7 to 10 pound, which was too cheap but nevertheless
provided my travel budget with a good income. But in the few big cities in Australia and New Zealand,
admirers of the fine arts were quickly served, yet no lasting customers
could be raised such as those in towns like Hamburg or Berlin.

Sometimes I could do the work especially fast, e.g. if I lived
in the homes of the customers. They sent a motor car to pick me up and I was driven 50 to
100 Miles through the bush to the rich sheep farmers where I was recommended
from one family to another and often made a whole genealogical gallery, from
great-grandmother to a small baby. At the home of one family in New Zealand I made 25
portraits, in others 15 to 20. Once I broke a record, as the Englishmen say, by
completing 21 portraits within 18 days. Well, this is something that makes you
realize you how much
you have done, but it was pleasant and all of them were carried out accurate, no modern
scribbling, what is unacceptable as far as portraits are concerned.

You asked where I had been ? I saw almost all of the world.
Mostly in
warm climates, as I consider winter unpleasant, and since I have all things I
need to work with me, it would have be silly not to make use of the opportunity.
In England, where I already knew London, Liverpool and Southampton, I visited
smaller towns or provincial towns, some a little larger like Norwich for
example, with more
than 300.000 inhabitants, but old towns, not comparable to German towns of
similar size. Since they all were ecclesiastical bishoprics with very old and
major cathedrals, these town are known as cathedral towns. Of course, on Sundays it is
boring and you don't earn money from the really religious people, but in every
small town you can find male lovers of fine arts, and my exhibitions were always
well attended, as only low quality was produced in the portrait business everywhere, especially from so-called "Malweiber" (Paint-women), who
had neither learned to draw, nor to paint.

For example I was in Chester, a very old town near
Liverpool. In Preston, in Bolton near Manchester, Blackburn and Blackpool and St. Anne, Southport
and Birkdale (north of Liverpool), in Plymouth,
Norwich and often in London. Overseas I reached Canada, St. John and Montreal, California, San Francisco, New York
and Boston. - In the south seas it was Honolulu, several times, Tahiti and the
Marquesas Islands, the Paumotu Lower islands and the Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga
Islands, New-Zealand (Wellington, Aukland, Christchurch, Dunedin, etc.).

In Christchurch I lived with a friend, the mayor for several
years. We painted, took photographs and enlarged them together, played gramophone and croquet,
fished for eels and many kinds of sea fish, and besides several portraits, I did
a lot of
other pictures, some of them in antique Pompeii style. - In Australia I lived most
of the time in Botany near Sydney and in Melbourne. But also at Hobart in Tasmania
(Van-Diemens Land), where I spent a lot of time in the bush doing portraits, in
the reality surrounded by huge, happy kangaroos, small wallabies, big poisonous
snakes and Tasmanian Tigers, a type of tiger-hyena dog.

In South Africa, I visited Cape town and Durban in Natal several
times, and went to Montevideo frequently too, as well as Rio de Janeiro in
Brazil. I went around Cape Horn three times, once in a small English sailing ship, the "Letterewe",
from Wellington to London in 120 days. In the South Seas, always on a small, leaking
ship called "Tropic Bird", only about 250 tons and with a local crew from the Cook
islands. We sailed and pumped from San Francisco through whole of Oceania with a
permanently merry crew from Aitutaki. Finally, all the leaks were stuffed, probably
due to
dirt or seaweed. The black cook did a good job, he even did Sauerkraut. Only one
German seaman was on board, unfortunately he was washed overboard three days
after our departure and drowned.

I travelled around the world eight or nine times, so I am a kind
of "Flying Dutchman". I never denied being close to the sea. - In Honolulu
and San Francisco, Samoa, Sydney and New Zealand, I met with many of my old
fellow marines. Some of them now as captains or as hoteliers, or as caraway or
coconut planters, even copra shippers between the oceanic islands.

Now, I am at home in an unnatural rest, pasted and covered with
plasters and newspapers and four cat skins, in order to keep some of the parts of my body at
a high temperature. It's a new method developed by my physician, who declares he
is acquainted with my
illness and can heal me. On top of this I have rheumatism, all over my body, for which
I am on a strawberry remedy. - Hope it will help, at least it tastes good.

So, now you know all about my travelling time.

It is wonderfully warm now, especially with the cat skins, but I am
tropically trained.